Gnana marga

Gnana marga

“The path of knowledge is the path of self-enquiry.” – Dada JP Vaswani

What is Gnana Marga? It is the path of true wisdom. He who walks the path of knowledge tries to discover the truth. He follows the dictum, only Brahman is truth. The world is ephemeral. Brahman is truth. The Supreme Spirit alone is truth. God is truth. All else is an illusion, all else is temporary, all else will vanish and disappear. All that is manifest, which can be touched, felt and heard, is a shadow of reality, and that is why the saints and sages urge us, “O man, do not chase the shadows of the world.” It is only when you become aware of the illusion, i.e. shadows, will you be able to go beyond the manifestations. Everything that is happening around us, everything that is happening to us is an illusion. The path of wisdom makes us aware that Brahman is truth and the world is transient.

The path of knowledge is the path of self-enquiry. At every step, the aspirant asks himself, ‘Is this the truth? Is this the reality?’ (For you see, this is also the path of elimination, through which we reject all that is impermanent and illusory until we arrive at the Supreme Truth). After negating everything, the seeker arrives at the truth, the reality that is Brahman.

The way to arrive at the truth is the way of negating everything. The world we live in is treacherous. It deceives us, enslaves us with its myriad manifestations. Hence, it is not easy for the common man to follow this path. Let me give you an example: while walking, if a thorn or glass piece pricks the flesh and blood oozes out, how many of us can say that the blood is not real and the pain is also not real?

Supposing you fall down and fracture a limb, you would not be able to say to yourself, “This is unreal; this is an illusion”. It is very difficult to consider physical pain or hurt as an illusion and endure it in the belief that God is the only reality.

Let me tell you, it is easy to say to others: Brahman is truth and the world is all illusion. It is difficult to convince those suffering in pain that all their pain is physical and that all that is physical is not real. To convince others of the ultimate reality, first I have to bear witness to it in my life. It is very difficult to prove that all around us, whatever exists is maya, all manifestations are illusions.

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